Long Road To Recovery
by Emma Jay Bentley
Summary: Casey and Olivia are fighting and one argument leads to almost devastating consequences for a member of the SVU team.
1. Chapter 1

Long Road to Recovery

Third story featuring Amy Novak.

Chapter 1

Doors slamming and two sets of footsteps marching in opposite directions alerted the team to the fact that there had been yet another argument between Casey and Olivia. The two women had been battling with one another for the last month, ever since Casey had started seeing a guy that Olivia had said she 'sort of' liked. The rest of the squad were fed up with the pair of them and poor Amy was stuck bang smack in the middle of one of her best friends and her favourite sister. Elliot gave Amy an apologetic look as Olivia stormed in, and then grabbed her by the arm before directing her to the ladies bathroom.

"She is insane! She says we don't have enough evidence!" Olivia ranted to her friend who was now sat on a toilet seat because she knew it'd take a while for Olivia to vent her anger. "I mean we have more than enough evidence, if she could be bothered to stay home one night and work instead of going out with lover boy all the time." She started to pace and continued to rant for the next ten minutes whilst Amy sat and remained silent. "Well?" Olivia asked finally coming to a stop.

"I've told you before and I'll tell you again. You can rant and shout but don't expect me to comment." Amy replied for the tenth time in a week slowly standing up, she felt a little dizzy and held onto the side of the cubicle for support. Olivia noticed and worried about the younger woman's health, asking she was alright she didn't believe the 'tired' excuse she was given.

"I don't believe you." Olivia said placing a hand on her shoulder; Amy was tired and fed up of the arguing so her mouth moved before her brain.

"Trust me I'm tired, and fed up of you and my older sister acting like kids. I've too much on my plate at the moment to play referee for the pair of you. And now I'm going to get my phone and listen to Casey demanding me to ring her so she can rant to me all about you. And you know what I don't want to hear it. Any of it!" Amy shouted pushing past Olivia and into the bull pen, she then got her phone and left.

Twenty minutes later Amy returned to her desk looking pale and exhausted after listening to Casey, Elliot was the first to notice her appearance and went to check that she was ok. He knew she'd been getting the brunt of the arguments going off, he'd been lucky enough that Olivia had chosen to talk to Amy instead of him but he'd still had his ear chewed off repeatedly by the detective.

"Go home." Elliot told Amy and she rested her head in her hands.

"I've a report to finish. I'm fine, just sick of the two children I have to deal with on a daily basis." She sighed squeezing the bridge of her nose.

"You can finish it at home, or better still do it tomorrow. Go home, get some rest and spend the evening relaxing with your husband." Elliot said handing her her car keys.

"Ok, Jack should be home soon anyway." She sighed standing up and picking her coat up. "I'll see you tomorrow." He nodded and told her to relax and forget about Olivia and Casey for the evening, although he doubted she'd complete the evening without them calling her to complain about one another.

Olivia slammed down her phone and then went to complain to Amy but realised that she wasn't sat at her desk, in fact Olivia hadn't seen the brunette for a couple of hours and nobody had commented on her disappearance. She looked up at Elliot who was on the phone and mouthed to where was Amy he mouthed the word 'home' back so Olivia picked her phone back up and dialled the McAllister's home number.

"Yello." Jack answered quietly.

"Hey Jack, how's Amy?" Olivia asked recalling how the woman had looked earlier.

"In bed, she'd wiped. Look I'm just about to run to the store; do you want me to give her a message?" Jack asked well aware that Olivia had probably called to rant about something, and there was no way that he'd disturb his sleeping wife.

"Just calling to see how she is. Tell her I called." Olivia replied before hanging up and gaining Elliot's attention to tell him what she was intending to tell Amy, the detective momentarily regretted sending Amy home as Olivia made her way over to his desk.

Amy sighed as the phone rang and she picked it up expecting it to be Casey or Olivia as Jack had told her that they'd both rung whilst she'd been asleep.

"Hey kiddo how's life?" her brother Cody smiled down the line. She let out a sigh of relief upon hearing his voice and fell into easy conversation with him, eventually though the subject of his twin sister came up. "Ok we had dinner the other evening and all she did was rant about Olivia, seriously things need to get sorted she's doing my head in. So what are you going to do?" He asked.

"You have it hard? Cody if I wasn't feeling sick I'd come to your place and hit you! You had one dinner with Casey; I have every day with the pair of them! I get both sides all the time and I can't cope." Amy half shouted at her brother so he quickly apologised, she was tired and feeling sick and felt bad for taking it out on her brother.

"Ok, so by the sounds of it I think Olivia needs a boyfriend then she'll be happy and be happy for Casey so they'll both stop arguing and be happy and leave you alone so you'll be happy and you won't snap at me so I'll be happy." Cody reasoned pleased with his plan.

"So you're ok to get Olivia a boyfriend?" Amy asked and straight away Cody gave the job to her since he was a guy and it would be weird and he didn't really know Olivia that well, she sighed and told him she'd call him the next day before hanging up grabbing a cushion and screaming into it.

The next morning Amy was on her way into the squad room when Casey caught up to her and asked to speak to her.

"No no no no no no no no no leave me alone!" Amy shouted running into the bathroom. She still wasn't feeling very well and did not want to deal with her sister, who had decided to follow her into the bathroom.

"We broke up last night." Casey said coming to a stop outside Amy's cubicle, Amy couldn't help but smile since she figured that it would calm things down between the ADA and Olivia. "He said we weren't working, you know I thought we'd last a little longer." Amy rolled her eyes before opening the door and talking to her sister telling her that it had only been weeks. Casey wasn't impressed and told her sister so.

"No Casey I'm not impressed, all day every day for the last few weeks I've had you and Olivia at one another, and then moaning to me about one another and it's driven me up the wall." Casey went to protest but Amy stopped her. "No don't now it's my turn to have a say." She left the bathroom and went to find Olivia before returning with her moments later. Olivia and Casey looked at one another with distain but Amy chose to ignore it. "You two are meant to be adults, you work together, you're meant to be friends. Hell you're both my best friends and I can't stand seeing you like this, it's horrible and driving me up the wall. Ok Liv you liked the guy but didn't make a move – your loss. Casey, yeah he asked you out but you knew Liv liked him. But thing is now neither of you have him. Olivia he didn't ask you out, Casey he dumped you. Get over it and grow up!" Amy ordered to their astonishment.

"What gives you the right to tell us to grow up!" Casey snapped at Amy who promptly started to cry before leaving the bathroom in a hurry. Olivia gave Casey a look reprimanding Casey for what she'd said and followed Amy out of the bathroom.

Olivia had expected Amy to be in the squad room but she wasn't there, Elliot and the guys hadn't seen her either. Casey looked on the roof and Olivia went round the building, neither of them found her and she didn't respond to either of their calls. Eventually Casey went back to her office and Olivia set down to work at her desk, both women concerned as to where Amy was.

Two hours later she still hadn't returned and Olivia was really worried, she called Jack's office but he hadn't seen or heard from his wife but promised to call her the moment he did. Two hours after that Cragen emerged from his office looking very sullen.

"There's been an accident." He said looking at his team with sad eyes; Olivia covered her mouth in shock.


	2. Chapter 2

Long Road to Recovery

Chapter 2

Don Cragen made one of the most difficult calls of his life when he broke the news to Jack McAllister that his wife had been involved in an accident and taken to the hospital. He was only thankful that Elliot had gone in person to tell Casey, it had been hard enough to try console the sobbing man on the other end of the phone, he could only imagine how Casey would take the news.

Casey broke down when Elliot told her the news; she knew something was up when he'd entered the office with an apologetic look on his face. She sobbed the entire way to the hospital and didn't say a word until they got there and spotted Jack sat with his head in his hands in a seat with Olivia sat next to him.

"Any news?" Casey asked struggling to find her voice. Olivia shook her head, they'd heard nothing since they'd arrived at the hospital, they'd only told them that she'd been rushed into surgery and they'd be out to update them shortly. Jack had called his and Amy's ex roommate Leo who worked at the hospital, and he was now trying to find some information out for them. Elliot and Olivia had been there for about twenty minutes when Leo showed up.

"Jack, Casey." Leo said approaching them, he had his hands in his pockets and looked like he had bad news, Casey broke down and Jack placed an arm around her to hold her up. "They've done the best they could; she sustained some really serious injuries both internal and external. She lost a lot of blood."

"Is she alive?" Jack asked in a weak voice.

"The next few hours will be critical; she's in intensive care now." Leo replied taking hold of Jack's free hand. "The twins are still alive but the trauma wouldn't have done them any good, they've hooked a foetal monitor up to her too." Jack nodded but everyone else was stunned at the word 'twins'.

"Can I see her?" Jack asked and Leo nodded his head before saying that she was in a bad way, there were lots of tubes and she was in a drug induced coma.

Jack slowly entered the room where his wife lay, heavily bandaged and tubes everywhere. It broke his heart and he listened to the beeping of all the machines that were making sure she and their babies were still alive. He softly placed a kiss on her head and touched her hand telling her how much he loved her before leaving the room and breaking down. He returned to the waiting room and spotted Olivia and Casey, suddenly he felt angry and vented it.

"If you two had only stopped and opened your eyes." He said crying, "She's four months pregnant, and she couldn't tell you because every time she tried to you both had something to say about the other. She's tried so hard to be patient with you both that it's made her sick, stressed and it made her leave the office. And now she's here lying in that room all alone and there's nothing I can do to help her, help them. I hope you two are happy because now I have to call your parents." He finished with a look at Casey before returning to his wife's bedside.

Elliot wasn't surprised to discover the young woman was pregnant, he should have figured it out sooner, the signs were there, the sickness, the weight gain. He understood why she'd kept it quiet, especially with everything that was going off in the office. His heart went out to her and Jack, he'd been wondering when they were going to start a family and now there was a chance that everything could be lost. He turned to look at Casey and Olivia who were sat side by side, they were taking it badly, tears streamed down the ADA's face and Olivia looked like she was holding tears back. None of them said anything until Casey's twin Cody turned up and engulfed his sister in a big hug.

"How is she?" He asked not letting go of Casey who filled him in on their sister's condition. "Everyone's on their way." He said and Casey nodded clinging on to him for support.

Over the next hour members of the Novak family started to arrive and Elliot felt that it was time for him and Olivia to leave.

"Mr Novak be sure to call me if any of you need anything." He said shaking Amy's father's hand.

"Call me if you need to talk." Olivia said to Casey as she stood up. "And I'm sorry." Casey looked up at her with tear stained eyes.

"All she wanted was a family and she couldn't even tell me she was pregnant. I am the worst sister ever and now I feel helpless because she's in there fighting and I'm here feeling guilty." Casey said her voice barely above a whisper; Olivia reached out and took hold of her hand.

"Concentrate on her getting better and then we can both take her out and apologise." Olivia replied and Casey nodded.

Laid in bed trying to sleep Olivia couldn't help but think about her friend who was fighting in the hospital. Amy had really had it tough over the years. As a teenager she'd faced one of the hardest things anyone could face and survived, then it had come back to haunt her a little over two years ago. Then there'd been the fairytale wedding in Ireland with the family and since then Amy's life had been going pretty smoothly. Then to top it all off she was going to have a baby. Olivia felt like kicking herself for what she'd been doing over recent months that had prevented her friend from telling her the wonderful news. Olivia would have been made up for her, she was thrilled. Amy would make a good mother; she'd been one to the unit at times even though she was their youngest detective. She hoped with all her heart that Amy would pull through, she was a fighter but it looked like she had a pretty big fight on her hands. She was finally starting to drift off when the phone rang.

"Benson." She answered flicking on a light.

"Did I wake you?" A tearful Casey asked and straight away Olivia worried that the worst had happened.

"No." Olivia replied, "Is everything ok?" Olivia asked.

"Can we talk?" Casey asked and Olivia told her to come over, Casey however was already stood outside. Olivia got out of bed and let her in.


	3. Chapter 3

Long Road to Recovery

Chapter 3

Olivia made Casey a coffee and they sat down in the living room. Neither spoke for a while until Casey had finished her drink.

"There's still no change, Mum told me to go home. They're not expecting anything to happen for a while. Jack's not left her side. He's like a broken man." Casey said in a quiet voice. "She looks so pale, like a ghost. I mean I've seen her in a bad way before but never this bad." Casey put her cup on the coffee table. "I feel so guilty." She said before starting to sob, Olivia pulled her into a hug and held the younger woman as she cried.

"I know you do so do I. But she's going to come through this and we can make it up to her. You just have to think positive for her. Think about her getting better and bossing everyone around from the hospital, she'll have us all running round after her." Olivia tried to joke and be positive even though it was hard.

Eventually Casey's sobs stopped and she remained sat beside Olivia.

"Cody knows it's my fault, the look he gave me earlier confirmed it. Jack knows too." Casey said. "Amy and I have fallen out so many times over the years, we push one another's buttons but I was always going to be there for her. I never thought things would get so bad that she couldn't tell me she was having a baby, I'm so mad at myself."

"Me too, but right now we can't do anything except wait and hope she's ok." They were interrupted by the sound of Casey's cell. It was her twin brother.

"Cody?" Casey answered quickly in a very worried voice.

"Get here quick." Cody said and Casey suspected the worst.

Somehow Olivia got them to the hospital in one piece, they went up to where the rest of the Novak's were and saw grave faces. Amy's pressure had dropped and she'd been rushed back into surgery as they feared she was bleeding internally. Two hours later the doctor emerged to speak with Jack. Jack came back with an expression that was hard to read; he sat down on a chair and started sobbing. Amy's mother went to him and gave him a hug and Jack struggled to speak.

"They, she...they don't think... they're not sure if... sh...she's going to wake up." He sobbed and the noise was heartbreaking. Mary Novak too broke down and her husband had to help her into a chair, the rest of the family were all in shock. They were facing the prospect of losing Amy, Casey was facing losing her baby sister, the one she went to too complain about her older sister and Olivia.

"What's going to happen next?" Cody asked voicing what many of the others were thinking.

"Waiting." Casey replied sitting down next to her twin brother and taking hold of his hand.

The Novak's, Jack and Olivia remained in the waiting room all night hoping for a change in Amy's condition. At around 7 Olivia left to get ready for work. When she walked into the squad room just over an hour later the first thing she asked was if there'd been any news.

"Nothing since you called earlier." Elliot said taking a look at the empty desk. He'd gotten used to seeing the young woman sat there every morning reading a paper or writing up a report, it was strange not seeing her there. A few of the others had come in and looked over at the desk; Munch had even made a cup of tea for Amy before realising that she wasn't there. The cup was still steaming at her desk.

"What are the odds of her pulling through?" Fin asked Olivia once she'd sat down at her desk.

"Not good, about 50 50 at the moment. Then there's the stress on her system from the pregnancy to take into consideration. My heart goes out to them." Olivia said stealing another look at the empty desk before Cragen came out to fill them in on their latest case.

It was a very long day for everyone. Cody spent the best part of an hour trying to convince Jack to go home and sleep but he refused to leave his wife. Everyone was scared of what was going to happen. They'd been taking it in turns to go and shower at Cody's place but they quickly came back.

"I can't do this anymore." Brandon Novak suddenly said standing up after they'd been told there'd been no more change to Amy's condition.

"Brandon." Sophie said trying to stop him from doing something that might upset the family.

"The last thing she wants is for us to sit around here moping, and she won't be happy when she wakes up to find us all here looking like we've seen better days." Brandon replied giving Jack a knowing look who nodded.

"He's right; I'll call you the second anything changes." Jack said finding an inner strength from somewhere, he was going to stay but that was his place.

"I'm not going anywhere." George Junior replied remaining seated, he'd let his sister down once when she was a teenager and he wasn't going to leave her alone now. "But the rest of you go; we can do shifts so she's not alone." He reasoned and with some agreement the family left giving Jack their best as they left.

For some reason Casey didn't want to go home, she went to the SVU, for some reason she felt the need to be close to the unit and the office her sister loved. She walked into the squad room and was hugged by Elliot the moment she set foot through the door, everyone wanted an update but there was nothing she could give them. She was going to be going back with Cody that afternoon and then Brandon and Sophie were doing the evening stint. She was hoping Jack's parents would be able to convince him to go home to sleep for a bit, they needed to make sure he was taken care of so that he could take care of Amy.

Melinda came in and asked for an update and Casey asked her if Amy would survive. Melinda led Casey to a seat and sat down next to her.

"Casey I want nothing more than to tell you that Amy will make a full recovery and will have two bouncing babies in a few months. Casey I really do." Melinda said. "But there's no way of knowing what's going to happen. But she's a fighter and you have to believe that she will pull through."

"But nothing's certain right?" Casey asked. "She finally got everything and it's over. How can it be? Every day we deal with scum who live long happy lives but she can't and for what? And the last thing I said to her was horrible, I was angry and I might never get the chance to tell her I'm sorry and that she's the best sister in the world and that I feel honoured to be able to work with her and know her." Casey sobbed uncontrollably.

"I don't want to leave her." Jack said as his father tried to make him leave the hospital that evening, Brandon and Sophie had just arrived to take the night shift.

"Jack mate go home shower have a nap." Brandon tried to tell him. "You'll feel better and she's not on her own. "

"But what if?" Jack started but his father stopped him.

"No son go home. Amy needs you to be strong." Jack started sobbing and he clung onto his father like he used to when he was a little boy and was scared, it was heartbreaking to watch.


	4. Chapter 4

Long Road to Recovery

Chapter 4

Two long days of people watching over her, two long days of tests to see if she was functioning. She was breathing for herself – that was good. But she still wouldn't wake up and that was heartbreaking. Every 6 hours someone new would come to take their turn at her bedside, she was never alone, that was Jack's fear, he didn't want her to wake up on her own.

There was a low moan; Cody thought he was imagining it until he heard it again. The noise was coming from Amy; he was certain and ran out of the room to find someone before quickly running back.

"It's ok Amy, its Cody I'm here." He said taking hold of her hand as she moaned again trying to get up. "No honey you need to stay still, the doctor is on his way." He was trying to reassure her but he knew she was panicking, she needed Jack but he was downstairs getting coffee.

Jack was walking back to Amy's room when he saw movement around it; straight away he hurried up praying that nothing was wrong. When he got there Cody came outside.

"Cody what's up?" Jack asked worriedly.

"She's awake, she moaned and her eyes opened, she tried to get up." Cody said in a shocked whisper. He couldn't believe that she'd stirred, he along with the rest of the family had been worried about never seeing her alive again.

After the longest twenty minutes in the world the doctor emerged from Amy's room and looked at Jack. "She's slowly coming round, it will be a few days until she's fully aware of her surroundings and fully awake, it takes time coming out of coma."

"Is she going to be ok?" Cody asked as Jack was still too stunned to speak.

"Early indications are good; we'll know a lot more in a few days. She's still not out of the woods and she needs to stay calm." Both men nodded and the doctor told them that they could go in to see her. Cody said he'd go call people so that Jack could have some time alone with his wife.

Jack walked in and called his wife's name saying that it was him and took hold of her hand, she moaned a little and squeezed his hand gently. That was all it took for him to break down and tell him how happy he was and how much he loved her and how she was going to be better soon. She was restless for a little while but soon calmed down knowing that her husband was there. By the time Cody returned she was perfectly calm and by the sound of things she was asleep.

"Mum and Dad were going to come in now but I told them that the doctor said it would be a while still. They'll be in later." Cody said sitting down in the seat next to Jack. The attorney was crying with relief that his wife had finally started to wake up but he was still worried about what would happen to her, Leo had told him what the likelihood of her making a full recovery was. "She will be ok Jack; I mean this is Amy we're talking about."

"I'm just worried about this being the fight that she won't win." Jack added with a sigh. The doctors were worried about paralysis, she'd responded to tests on her arms and right leg, but not her left. They were also worried about possible brain damage, but they wouldn't be able to test her until she was fully awake.

Olivia put her phone down and sighed loudly leaning back in her chair. Elliot caught sight of her and threw her a questioning look, she filled him in on what Casey had just told her about the coming round and also the injuries part. He nodded and smiled thankful that she was waking up. He could foresee both Casey and Olivia falling to pieces if she hadn't woken up, Casey would be devastated at losing her younger sister and best friend, and Olivia at losing someone she viewed as a younger sister.

Moments later Casey came running into the office and pulled Olivia into a huge hug.

"She's still with us." Casey sobbed into her friends arms and Olivia pulled her closer, suddenly seeing how similar Casey was to her younger sister, they were both strong but not invincible, and she cared for them both exactly the same, she wouldn't be able to live normally without either of them anymore.

"Soon as she's strong enough we're going to go out and take her shopping with us so we can spoil those two children she's carrying." Olivia said smiling brightly as she wondered what the babies would look like.

Casey and Olivia sat by the side of Amy's bed, the machines beeping keeping an eye on mum and babies. There'd been no change throughout the day but the two women felt the need to be there, since getting there they'd been talking to Amy, filling her in on what was happening at the precinct and on TV, they'd taken it in turns to read her part of the paper. They weren't sure she knew what was happening but it made them feel better.

Olivia's detective observation skills noticed the hand movement before Casey; she wasn't sure what she was seeing so watched for it again. Sure enough Amy's hand started to move a little, moments later Casey spotted some eye movement from her younger sister. Olivia ran to get the doctor whilst Casey stood up calling her sister's name and trying to get her to focus on her.

"Amy its Casey look at me, don't worry you're in hospital." Casey said putting a hand on the side of her sister's face to try calm her down and Amy had started to struggle a little. Slowly Amy calmed down and fixed her eyes on the eyes of her older sister. Casey knew Amy was trying to figure out how bad the situation was.

The Doctor came in and spoke to Amy, Jack came in and his face lit up, making eye contact with his wife for the first time in days came as a huge relief to him. The Doctor explained that they'd be giving Amy more tests the next morning, let her adjust to her surroundings first and catch up with herself a little bit. He left the room allowing Casey and Olivia to come in.

"What do you remember?" Jack asked his wife hoping her memory hadn't been affected, she'd recognised people, well Casey but he was worried about that.

"I was on my way across town, I needed to get out of the office, there was a contact I had to see. That's it." Amy replied hoping that was right. Jack looked at Olivia who nodded, that was what Cragen had told the team when they'd asked where she'd gone. "The arguing had driven me mad and I needed to get away from it." She added looking at the now guilty looking women stood on either side of her husband.

"Yeah well we've made up now so don't worry, we're the ones worrying now about how we're going to make it up to you." Casey replied making her sister smile, as she smiled Amy also yawned so the two women decided to say their goodbyes and leave husband and wife alone.


	5. Chapter 5

Long Road to Recovery

Chapter 5

The next day Olivia kept on looking at her phone, Amy was spending the day having tests and she was anxious to find out how it was going and what the results were. She suspected Casey was having a similar anxious day; the only reason she wasn't going to call her was because she knew Casey wouldn't appreciate the phone line being tied up when Jack could call with an update.

About 3pm Olivia's desk phone finally rang to reveal Casey on the other end.

"Brain function is as normal as it's ever going to be with my sister, but they're worried about paralysis on her right side, she's got poor feeling in her right arm and fingers and none in her leg at all." Casey said sounding positive but not feeling as positive as she wanted too. Her sister was alive but she wasn't well and it didn't look like she would be any time soon. "She's going to be in hospital for a long while so we'll have to keep her occupied." Casey said as she started rambling about the stuff they could do to keep her spirits up.

Olivia knew the perfect way to keep Amy occupied from her hospital bed, it annoyed Jack but kept Amy happy meaning Jack was happy. Another brain working on the latest case. Amy spent a good few hours going over the case file Olivia had brought her before calling Elliot with her theories. Olivia walked into the squad room a week after Amy had woken up to find Elliot chuckling.

"Third time today she's called. She needs to get home because at least there she can bother me by email rather than phone." He smiled holding up the notes Amy had made him take whilst she was talking to him.

"According to Mrs McAllister the guy we're after is Munch's secret twin." Olivia read aloud with a smirk. The comments that Olivia read then made the entire room shake with laughter, however a quick look to her empty desk made the mood return to below normal, she really was missed.

Olivia walked into the hospital room expecting to find Amy there but she wasn't. All her belongings had gone and for a moment Olivia started to panic and fear the worst.

"Excuse me where's Detective, I mean Mrs McAllister?" Olivia asked a nurse.

"She's been transferred to another hospital." The nurse replied before heading off. Immediately Olivia called Casey who was unaware of the move. The younger woman then got on the phone to her brother in law in the hope of tracking down her sister.

Three long days of searching later Casey and Olivia walked into the best hospital in New York, Jack McAllister had decided that he'd be willing to spend every penny he had to ensure his wife and unborn children were ok.

The ADA and Detective were impressed with the room Amy was now residing in but they both knew that the younger woman would much rather be recuperating in her own house. Her spirit was gradually weakening with each day she remained in the hospital, each day her children were growing stronger inside of her but she was growing emotionally weaker.

"So I reviewed your notes and you were right. We caught him." Olivia explained how Amy had helped close the case. Amy merely shrugged and went back to looking out of the window.

Jack McAllister was nursing a bad hangover when Casey banged on his front door a month later. Amy was still in hospital and wasn't getting any better, her mental state was poor, she hadn't spoken to anyone in over a week. Casey and everyone else were worried and now Jack looked like Casey felt but the ADA was furious that it had been over a week since Jack had visited his wife.

"What do you want?" Jack asked as Casey barged in past him and made her way into the kitchen.

"I want to know why the man who once professed to love my sister more than anything in the world has suddenly stopped going to visit her." Casey snapped taking in his exhausted appearance and deduced that he'd not been sleeping, she'd come to the house wanting an argument to make herself feel like she was doing something for her sister but looking at Jack put a stop to it. "She told you not to go anymore." Casey realised and he nodded sitting down.

"Said she didn't want to see me when she couldn't be my wife. Even suggested a divorce. I've tried to go but she won't talk or look at me anymore. I just don't want to stress her out." Jack replied in a quiet voice. "It's killing me to see her like that but I don't know what to do." He broke down in tears as Casey stood there helpless. She knew Jack loved Amy more than anything but her sister was tough to love at times, with Amy came a lot of baggage that reared its head when it was most inconvenient.

"You fight because it's what she'd do the same if the situation was reversed." Was the only thing Casey could say because it was the only thing she was certain of at that particular time. "And right now you're going to have a shower, shave and put something clean on while I make you something to eat and then we're going to my sister to knock some sense into her."

Amy was staring into space when Casey and Jack walked into the room armed with a variety of Amy's favourite things. She gave them a look as if to tell them to go away but they ignored it and simply started talking to her about things that were happening. Jack started reading the paper to her and Casey filled her in on the latest case, even though Amy didn't say a word the pair didn't let up. Then when Casey left she was replaced by Cody who like his twin started talking and didn't shut up. Jack quickly followed Casey out and thanked her for making him go, even though Amy hadn't spoken the plan was to keep talking to keep letting her know that they were there.

"I'll sort out the others; I'm sure the squad will want to help, and then she'll eventually get fed up of us talking to her all day and tell us to shut up." Casey smiled. "Or even better get up out of bed and push us out of the door."

"But what if she doesn't?" Jack asked worried.

"Trust me; my sister will get fed up." Casey smiled before heading out of the hospital.


	6. Chapter 6

Long Road to Recovery

Chapter 6

Olivia entered the hospital room to find Leo there talking to Amy about the latest medical journal he'd read and also about how much money his department were spending. It was deliberately dull conversation to try and lull Amy out of her mute state to tell him to shut up, he'd lived with her so knew what buttons to press but it wasn't working.

"Hey Amy," Olivia smiled taking a seat in Amy's eye line. One good thing about all this was that Amy was making eye contact with people; they were taking that as a positive sign.

"Right Aims I will see you soon." Leo said giving Amy a kiss on the head and leaving the two women alone.

Olivia had tried all sorts of topics to get Amy going in the two weeks they'd been doing this, whenever there were visiting hours there was somebody there for the full time, and wherever possible they'd put two people in to double team her. Last night she and Casey had come up with a new plan of attack, her mother going on for four hours about needlework hadn't worked so they hoped this thing would.

Olivia rambled on for a little bit about what was going off in the squad, their latest case and the weather. Then as planned Olivia paused for a little bit before launching into operation 'Oh my god.'

"You know what though; my love life has started to pick up this last week." Olivia said putting a dreamy tone on her voice. "It came out of the blue." She said dropping her voice to a whisper even though they were the only two people in the room. "I think I'm falling for Munch." Olivia waited for a second as the words made their way through Amy's ears and up to her brain, then Amy's eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open.

"Are you crazy!" Amy shouted and straight away Olivia burst out laughing at her friend's expression, it was a classic, she only wished Casey had been there to see it. "You just set me up." Amy then realised.

"We figured all it would take to get you talking was to give you something you couldn't help but comment on." Olivia replied, Amy raised an eyebrow at 'we' so Olivia filled her in on the plan of her and Casey. Amy didn't respond so Olivia went on to explain that everyone was worried and it wasn't doing her any good just sitting there in silence and keeping everything bottled up inside her, they cared about her and wanted to help.

"So you're not falling for Munch?" Amy asked eyes wide.

"More chance of Casey doing that." Olivia replied and Amy responded with a smirk.

The squad room was a noticeably nicer place the next afternoon, Olivia was smiling and Casey wandered in with a spring in her step on her way back from the hospital where she'd sat and spoken to her younger sister. Although Amy's conversation was weak and minimal it was something, she was slowly speaking to people again. Jack had been getting more words out of her than anyone, the first word from her being sorry followed by tears from both of them. Casey had spent quite a long time that morning on the phone to her family trying to get a rota sorted so that once again her sister wasn't on her own, Jack had been happy to let her do it as it kept her from calling him to see how she was doing. As expected the squad all offered to go and spend some time with their treasured colleague. As Casey went to leave to return to her own office Olivia followed her to the elevator.

"How are you holding up?" Olivia asked her friend who seemed a little brighter but still sad.

"Ok," Casey replied with a sigh, "I'm just still worried, she's ... I don't know ..." Casey gave a half smile. "But with Amy I never really know."

"I know," Olivia said placing a hand on the younger woman's shoulder. "Call if you need anything." Casey nodded in response as she stepped into the elevator.

Casey walked into the hospital room to find her younger brother and sister locked in a major game of chess, which according to her older sister Sophie had been going on for a very long time. Sophie was concerned that Amy hadn't spoken to her aside from to say hello when she'd arrived but Casey took one look at her twin brother and younger sister and smiled knowing that they didn't speak when playing chess. She'd been left out of things many times when they were younger and playing chess, so she sat down to watch.

"Check mate! Read it and weep loser!" Amy exclaimed about 40 minutes later.

"Loser – it only took you 3 hours to beat me." Cody replied but he was beaming pleased to see the baby of the family so happy.

"You've been at this for 3 hours?" Sophie asked in disbelief whilst Casey put the chess set away. She was the only Novak child to never bother learning to play; their father had offered to teach them all but she'd preferred to knit with their mother, unbeknownst to her though Amy had been forced to learn how to knit the year Casey had gone off to college, their mother had deemed it to be a nice mother daughter bonding activity and as Amy was the only child left in the house she'd had no choice.

"Well there was nothing on TV." Amy replied making Casey laugh and Sophie pout. "So now I'm getting 3 siblings at once, this is an interesting experience." Amy sighed and Casey sat on the side of the bed.

"We only care." Casey said before starting to fuss over Amy, it's what she felt she should be doing and Sophie also started to fuss making sure everything in the room was in order. Only Cody had come in and been himself suggesting they play chess and not forcing her to speak, that was how she'd managed to relax and enjoy something for the first time in weeks.

Cody and Sophie left an hour later leaving Casey and Amy on their own, they hadn't really talked but Casey had decided she wanted to get it over and done with, if only to make herself feel less guilty. "Amy all I can say is I'm sorry – for everything, I should have been there for you but I wasn't." Casey started pulling up a chair so it was next to the bed. "When Elliot called by my office I couldn't believe it, all I thought of was how I'd treated you and how you might have died without me telling you how much I love you." Tears began to fall down Casey's face and Amy reached out to take hold of her big sister's hand. The pair had been through a lot together in their lifetime, even entering into counselling a few years earlier following a harrowing case that led to Amy joining the SVU team, Casey hadn't been able to let go of the guilt she felt since the day she let her sister walk home alone from school. "I'm supposed to look after you but all you ever seem to do is look after me and now that's got to change. The only people you're going to need to worry about are those two angels in there." Casey smiled pointing to her sister's stomach, she watched Amy place a protective hand over it. Casey had no doubt that Amy and Jack would be amazing parents, they were both so loving and kind, the children would be lucky to be able to call them mum and dad. "I promise you Amy I'm not going to let you down again because there'd be nothing worse happen to me than not have you around and part of my life." Casey looked up from Amy's stomach to see her sister crying silent tears.

"What if I'm not a good mother? What if my leg never gets better?" Amy sobbed voicing some of her concerns to her big sister, ones that she felt she couldn't tell Jack.

"You will be a fantastic mother – that I know from here." Casey put a hand on her heart to get her point across and then stood up for the second answer. "And about your leg – who knows? But it won't stop you from loving those babies or from being you. You are so special, and loved and no matter what happens you won't have to go through it all alone." Casey finished pulling her sobbing sister into a hug and holding her until she'd cried all of her fears away.

Casey returned to the hospital a week later to find her sister out of bed and standing up on her way back from rehab, this was the first time she'd seen her sister on her feet since she'd stormed out of the 1-6 what felt like a lifetime ago. And what Casey felt the most excitement over was the fact that her sister was smiling, and it was an Amy smile, one that started in the toes and ended in her eyes which twinkled.

"Hey squirt." Casey smiled and Amy called her over to touch her ever growing stomach. Seconds after her hand touched her sister Casey pulled it away in surprise, she'd felt something – or rather someone move. "Oh my god." Casey exclaimed unaware that her expression matched her sister's as she took her arm in place of the nurse and walked the younger detective back to her room.

"I properly felt them for the first time last night, Jack was here and he was so excited I couldn't help but feel the same myself." Amy explained but there was no need, Casey knew her sister had been immensely worried about her pregnancy and now she had properly felt the babies move she was feeling better, it meant Amy was beginning to feel a lot better, by one simple movement Amy's fears from the previous week had vanished.


	7. Chapter 7

Long Road to Recovery

Chapter 7

Amy was 8 months pregnant when she finally left hospital and she was unbelievably excited about it. Her right leg was still a little sluggish but she was able to move around without crutches and on her own, which was good enough for the specialists so it was good enough for her. The only problem was that now she was back in bed on bed rest until the babies were born, the doctors wanted to keep a close eye on her but she was adamant she wanted to be at home. However she could only cope with being in her house for so long, and after being in hospital for over 4 months she wanted to get out and see the city so she hopped into a cab and headed to the 1-6.

She had hoped the team would be pleased to see her, they were but Cragen was furious with her for being out of bed. He wanted her back but was willing to wait until she'd returned from maternity leave ready to show pictures of her kids to everyone at the drop of a hat, he didn't want her putting her recovery at risk by coming to work. However his opinion soon changed when within half an hour she managed to help provide them with a break in the case by recognising one of the witnesses to a murder as one of her 'contacts' from the street what was notoriously unreliable. As Eliot and Olivia went off to bring the contact in for questioning Maddie sat down to read notes on the rest of the case, a pair of high school boys had been attacked and sexually assaulted on their way home from school. The nature of the case was one that struck a chord with Amy given her own past, which was one of the reasons why Cragen had wanted to keep her away from it.

"Let's get the sicko." Amy said closing the case file and finding Munch stood next to her and offering her a lift home. "No, I'm fed up of my house, my parent's house and the drive between them – and I'm not even allowed to drive there which sucks because my mother is the world's slowest driver." Amy complained making Munch laugh, he knew what to expect when the young woman was in a mood. "And I want to hear what Matkins has to say for himself." Amy added referring to her contact as Olivia and Eliot returned with Mr Matkins.

Amy wanted to go into the interview room as she knew what buttons to press with Matkins to get what she needed from him. However Munch relayed instructions to the two detectives questioning him and with Amy's guidance got the information they needed from him in under an hour. During the hour Amy received 6 phone calls from her husband and parents wondering where she was, each time she sent it to voicemail and was counting down the minutes until Casey arrived looking for her worried that something had happened.

"Amy you ok?" Munch asked as the young woman winced in pain. She brushed it off as one of the babies kicking but it happened again a few minutes later.

"I think I need to go to the hospital." Amy announced to him looking around the squad room for Olivia and Eliot but they'd gone to follow up on information given by Matkins. When she bent over in pain Munch shot up and ran to her side shouting for Cragen to come help. They went to help get her to the car but she struggled to move as the pain was coming much quicker and starting to hurt more and more. "Oh god, help me please." She cried having never experienced anything that bad before. As she cried Casey came running into the squad room looking for her baby sister stopping in her tracks when she saw the look on Amy's face.

"Amy?" Casey questioned and Amy reached out to take hold of her hand squeezing it.

"I think I'm having a baby." Amy said in shock and Casey sprang into action shouting orders to people, 1. Get a squad car waiting downstairs now – with lights, 2. Call the hospital to let them know they were on their way, 3. Call Jack to let him know what was happening. 4. Help get Amy downstairs to the car.

Jack was there pacing when the squad car arrived and Munch helped lift Amy out with Cragen and Casey helping. Jack went outside and scooped his wife up in his arms carrying her inside to the amazement of everyone else; he appeared very calm given the situation which only served to panic Amy even more.

"I can't do this, I'm not ready, they're not ready, we can't have kids yet, the house isn't finished, my mum isn't here – I want my mummy." Amy worried as she was placed into a wheelchair and led into a room to be examined, she was in a gown and hooked up to a monitor by the time Casey came in smiling.

"Mum and Dad are on their way, you are ready, the house is fine and you're going to be an amazing mother." Casey said deliberately trying to quell all her sister's fears, and she was about to leave when Amy took hold of her hand and asked her to stay. Casey looked at Jack who nodded wanting to keep his wife calm and happy.

Amy had never been in so much pain in her life, her blood pressure was starting to drop as was the babies. When she lost consciousness Jack had to sit and wait with Casey and both sets of parents while she went for an emergency caesarean. After 20 minutes he was panicking worried that the worst had happened and he'd be leaving without a wife, ten minutes after that the doctor emerged.

"Mr McAllister," He said and Jack stood up anxiously, his father placed a hand on his shoulder. "Wife and babies are doing fine and waiting for you." He smiled and Jack hurried the way he'd come.

"What do we have?" Casey asked smiling with relief.

"Babies." The doctor replied following Jack through the doors.

Amy looked completely exhausted as she sat in the bed with the cribs at the side of it, Jack was at her side, each had hold of a baby as Casey and both sets of grandparents came in.

"Babies say hello to Aunt Casey, Pop, Grams, Nana and Grandpa." Jack beamed standing up with the small child in his arms. "Everyone meet my son Ethan Miles." Jack showed the baby to the assembled family members. Both grandfathers were touched that their own fathers had been remembered in the tiny boy's name.

"And?" Casey asked impatiently wanting to know the name of the other baby.

"Ellen Casey." Amy smiled, "We wanted her to share a name with her godmother." Casey was visibly moved as she took hold of her new niece taking in every inch of the baby girls features.

"They're beautiful." Casey smiled looking at her nephew and niece, "I can't believe how tiny they are."

"Every bit of bed rest was worth it." Amy smiled looking at how happy her husband was surrounded by their close family, all the pain she'd experienced since she'd left the squad room that day paled in comparison to how she felt then. She had 2 new reasons to keep on going, 2 reasons to protect the world, and 2 reasons to put her past firmly behind her. It had been a long road but now she knew she'd be able to make a full recovery.

THE END!


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